


Not Us

by UndeadWithoutCoffee



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e02 Death Comes Knocking, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-01-31 18:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18597007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeadWithoutCoffee/pseuds/UndeadWithoutCoffee
Summary: Jack is a bit more rattled by his encounter with Freddy than he likes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As I said elsewhere: a friend forced me to watch the show and I got kind of hooked which got me back to writing (and drawing but that's something else entirely). So blame her!
> 
> Anyway I kind of came up with this when I watched this particular episode for the first time yesterday.
> 
> It was honestly kind of touching, all the episodes that link to the war are for me. Aside of my personal intrest in history, I remember my grandpa telling me that he still freaks out when he hears sirens because it was the sign for an impeding air raid when he was a kid in Germany.

Usually Mr. Butler would swan into a room with whatever the occupant was needing at any given point however today the man seemed to have lost his mind-reading abilities, maybe like all the rest affected what had passed in the last days, leaving it to Phryne to fetch them another round of drinks. With her out of the room and giving him time to think after ... well ... _that_...,  Jack leaned back in the chaise closing his eyes.

Fred Ashmead had been in a horrible space, being under a horrible officer who first sent his men off to die and then called for the stretcher when he was wounded himself. And if that wasn't enough the poor man had been hit with mustard gas and suffered a memory loss after watching his friend, bad officer or no, die. If it hadn't been for his own superior officers he could have ended up much the same, or like Basil who was massakred on a fence of barbed wire. Not that he was entirely sure if it was preferable to suffer like Fred did for the rest of his life.

"It wasn't", he was interrupted from his thoughts by Phryne, who was holding out another martini to him. "We did not end like either of them Jack."

"No.", he agreed, taking the glas from Phryne but not bothering to sit up again, letting her lean against his legs instead. "It wasn't like that for us, but the war still ruined a lot... for both of us."

"Not all of it bad though, Jack.", she replied with a shrug.

"Right ... heaven forbid you would not invade my office and my crime scenes on a regular basis Miss Fisher.", Jack said, hoping that she understood that he was aware that not only did their past lives did make them who they were today, but that they would probably never have struck up their unusual friendship, or in fact have met at all.

"Well, not what people usually bring up relating to this topic, but I will go with it. Here's to shared cases!", she said with a smirk and klinked her glas to his before taking a sip, while he tried to keep a straight face at the thought of _shared_ cases.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm somehow I had an idea that also tags this episode but chronologically it would be after the first chapter so I added it here. :)

With a sigh, Phryne set down her glas next to Jack's on the table and turned to check on the inspector. He had been rather quiet the last couple of minutes, apparently because he had fallen asleep. While silent Jack was nothing new to her, she smiled at the thought that he felt secure enough here to simply doze off. Quickly she resolved that she would not wake him up now. They had both had drinks so neither of them should drive. Besides he looked comfortable enough where he was laid back on the chaise and she suspected from his troubled expression from earlier that he might not slumber this peacefully for long.

Quietly she picked the blanket from where it hung over the back of the chaise and rested her head on Jack's chest to get some sleep herself.

She woke up a while later, hearing Jack's distressed voice talking in his sleep while he tightened his hold around her. Quickly she disentangled herself from his arms and sat up.

"No .... NO!", Jack had started to thrash around when she had gone from his grip, clearly lost in some gruesome images from the past. Phryne had seen more than enough wounded and scared men during her time in France, that she had no doubt as to what he was seeing.

"Jack, wake up. You're safe here.", she said, trying to rouse him enough to make the images go away without scaring him more, but without much success.

"Jack!", she repeated, a bit louder, carefully catching his flailing hands. Being restrained like this seemed to do the trick as he jerked up with a gasp, at first fighting her hold on him, but stopping dead the moment he realised who he was trying to hurt to get free.

"Sorry.", he rasped. Taking a couple of deep breaths before leaning back again, still holding on to Phryne and taking her with him, his eyes starting to droop closed again once he was sure that there was no eminant danger.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now this is something my dad, who was also in the army, told me: when you realise there is no danger whatsoever you drop off instantly because you're like "Oh hell no idea when I get the next chance to sleep" and I've seen him do it actually in the midst of the most noisy surroundings, including my mom nagging me for my "reckless driving" constantly while he was sitting in the back to get a small break.
> 
> (Phryne I know how that feels.)
> 
> I imagine Jack would have learned that in France too.


	3. Chapter 3

Hours later, Jack was roused due to sudden noise and movement. Still dazed with sleep he took quick stock of his surroundings. They had had some drinks and ... he had fallen asleep on the chaise in Phryne's parlour. He distantly remembered a horrid nightmare from the war, no wonder after the events of the past few days. But unlike normally he had fallen back to sleep almost instantly. Holding on to Phryne like a lifeline. He felt guilty at that, Rosie had tried to rouse him after nightmares as well but she never had that calming effect on him, or he had never let her in close enough, he was not sure which of the two.

 _'Damn, Phryne!'_ he realised when the sleepiness finally lifted. She was the one having the nightmare now. He felt the clammy skin under his hands as he tried to keep her from falling off the chaise as she moved. She was talking, but it did not seem coherent and he couldn't tell if she was so afraid of. René possibly, but after the last few days he was sure she was seeing the same things he did in her dreams.

Most people forgot that she had been on the battle field as well, or never even suspected. They only saw the rich, titled heiress. He had as well, admittedly, but since he started working for the police he had quickly learned to pay attention.

"Phryne wake up." he said, sitting up and pulling her against him. When he pushed the stray hair out of her face he could feel that she had been crying. Whatever it was that she had seen in that nightmare must have been really bad if it left her like this.

"They're dead.", she gasped, finally coming to, looking around wildly.

"Phryne whatever you saw it was just a dream.", he replied quietly, "Try to take some deep slow breaths."

While he was relieved that she was slowly calming down a little bit, he realised that she looked quite a mess. Quickly he weighed his options. Phryne would probably make light of it by means of distraction but he felt it was rather cruel to point out that she looked like a mix between a panda and a racoon. When he was sure that she was in no iminent danger of hyperventilating, he got up and fetched a wet cloth from the kitchen to clean her up a bit.

"It's cold Phryne, close your eyes.", he warned her, kneeling in front of her, before gently wiping the residue of make-up and tear stains off her face. When he was done, he placed the cloth on the tray on the table and looked up at her, unsure of how to proceed.

"I saw people die in my dream, Jack, and I couldn't save anyone.", she said with a small voice. She hadn't told anyone of the nightmares she had sometimes. Jane and Dot wouldn't understand as they never actually saw what happened in Europe. And there was no need to tell Mac, as she probably had the same nightmares. Sometimes they just showed up at each other's doorsteps in the night and shared a drink, or many. No questions asked. "Janey, Dot, Mac, Jane ... you."

With a sigh, Jack got back up and sat down next to her, "I'm not dead, Phryne, "he said before pulling her back down with him.

"And tomorrow you can check on Dot, Dr. Macmillan and Jane to make sure they are safe. It was just a dream. Let's try to get some sleep"


End file.
